LAC LA BICHE - Society members and staff at the Lac La Biche County Museum are gearing up for another year of historic activities, events and exhibit, while dealing with a historic pandemic.
The Lakeland Interpretive Society took over the museum’s operations in 2014, and society directors say since then, about 3,000 people a year were visiting the site, until the pandemic hit.
Over the last two years, attendance rates have been cut in half, with just 1,600 coming through the doors in 2021, due largely to the forced closure of the museum from January to June, says museum manager, Jennifer Mueller, reflecting on the last year.
While the in-person visits were down, multiple virtual programs, travelling pop-up events, school visits and senior and youth programming helped to increase community involvement and bring awareness to the museum throughout 2021.
As many as 4,000 individual virtual visitors were linked to the museum over the year, she explained.
“We offered a variety of off-site, on-site and online exhibits and programming. We also continued to expand our collections, assisted researchers, and participated in community events,” she said.
While this year may still force staff to transition to more virtual programming considering the continuing provincial COVID restrictions, Mueller says they plan to continue their virtual and “pop-up” programming for students and seniors, alongside their interpretive, on-site programming where two dozen exhibits are expected to be on full display.
Budget
Funding the museum’s overhead costs is supported by grant funding and municipal dollars. This year the non-profit was hoping to receive $140,000 from Lac La Biche County coffers, along with $92,00 from the museum's revenue totalling $232,000 to cover annual operational costs.
The $140,000 in municipal funding for 2022 is up by $10,000 from last year’s local funding. The increase is to cover staffing needs, says Mueller.
In a recent funding decision, Lac La Biche County councillors voted to split the difference on the increased funding ask, approving $135,000.
Acknowledging the increased funding and the work that society members and staff do to keep their expenses in line, Lac La Biche County deputy-mayor Lorin Tkachuk thank Mueller and the staff.
“I want to thank you guys for the work that you do. It’s not often common knowledge in the community that having a non-for-profit organization or society running our museum increases savings,” he said. “I really enjoy our partnership that we have, and I look forward to continuing it.”
